You know you’ve hit the big time and created a worthy piece of art when the Mob is coming after you, thus, actress Sofia Vergara must feel like she’s now hit the pinnacle of her career in Hollywood. I say that because the Daily Caller is reporting that Vergara is now being targeted for a hit job by the Mob, but they aren’t trying to assassinate her so much as her bank account.
Here’s more from the report:
Griselda Blanco’s family sued Sofia Vergara and Netflix for what they deem is the unauthorized use of their family’s image and likeness in an upcoming miniseries, “Griselda.”
Vergara played Blanco, an infamous Columbian queen-pin, in the miniseries. Blanco’s son, Michael, acting as a representative of her estate, claims he had provided in-depth interviews and shared his childhood stories with a source that intended to develop his experiences into a production, according to TMZ. He alleges Netflix ripped off his information and moved forward without issuing him any compensation, and is asking the judge for an injunction to halt the release of the miniseries.
Michael, along with his siblings, are claiming that they did not sign off on the usage of their own images and likenesses for the show, stating that the network moving forward on the production without their permission is a violation of their rights. Michael has alleged that the content the streaming service produced used his own content without gaining consent or offering compensation.
He claims the interviews he conducted with his sources date back to 2009 and continued all the way through 2022. The representatives reportedly began shopping out the content and concept in 2016. Michael’s court documents claim the idea was pitched to a producer ahead of a meeting with Netflix, and was told Netflix was interested in launching discussions to move forward. However, he was later informed Netflix didn’t want to use any of the original content he provided, according to TMZ.
Michael alleges the upcoming miniseries reflects the unauthorized use of the anecdotes and material he supplied, and claims he hasn’t received any compensation whatsoever.
The series is slated for a Jan. 25 release. Vergara is an executive producer for the project.
If it’s true that the likeness of these individuals was used in the series without first procuring the rights to do so, well, that’s definitely a violation that could end up costing the network a healthy chunk of change. Though, let’s be honest. The state of copyright laws and other legislation concerning creative works is an absolute mess in this country, especially with the advent of the Internet.
This is an area that needs to be overhauled pretty severely, though I know the vast majority of us would agree, given the current state of the nation, that’s not a top priority at the moment. Probably not even close at this point, what with President Joe Biden utterly ignoring the border crisis and doing jack and squat to repair the economy he wrecked.
However, don’t forget that politics always flows down stream from culture, so if we really want to impact future generations with our values and principles, taking care of artists’ rights is very, very important.
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